Dear Shooting Star, Grant My Wish
by kawaiichoconeko
Summary: What if Manami didn't attend the study session at the library and instead went with Karma? And what if Karma didn't reject her accompaniment? KARMA X MANAMI As usual, reviews are love!


As the finals were nearing, tension began to fill the air in Class E. This was their chance to weaken their octopus like teacher _and_ show Class A what their true potential was. Two birds with one stone. After class that day, Isogai quickly collected his stuff and sprinted out.

"Nagisa! Kayano!" he shouted excitedly, running toward them, "I have reserved seats at the library! Since it's pretty rare for Class E students to sit in the library, do you guys wanna go study with me and Nakamura?" This would be their final cramming session before the finals the next morning.

"Do you want to come along too Okuda?" asked Kayano, smiling at the petite girl. Manami was about to nod until she turned her attention to a certain red head, walking away. After what felt like hours of debating, which in reality was only a second or two, Manami politely shook her head in refusal.

"Thanks for the offer," replied the bespectacled girl, smiling, "But I have some things to do. You guys go on and have fun. Bye!" With that, she ran after Karma, braids swinging back and forth. She didn't know why, but she didn't want him to be alone after being left out on Isogai's invite. Of course, she also knew that Isogai wasn't being rude. He already knew that Karma would refuse with his nature of hating to study, but she felt that it wouldn't have hurt to invite the red head as well.

"Yo," greeted Karma casually, his pale mercury-gold eyes glancing at the girl, "Why didn't you go with them?" His pace started to lock in with hers and the two walked quietly out to the busy street where students from the main building were starting to come out.

"No reason," lied Manami, "I just didn't feel like going." As everyone knew, Manami was a horrible liar. Even though her language skills had improved since the mid-terms, her excuses were still shaky. Karma laughed, amused.

"You giving up a chance to study in an _air conditioned_ room?" asked the red head teasingly, "That's unheard of. It's not like I _don't_ know you." Manami's face turned to the lightest shade of pink out of embarrassment. "You can go home if you want," offered Karma, "If you're wondering if I'm ok, then I'm fine. I don't want to study anyways. I'll just wing it." _Is he trying to shoo me away?_ thought Manami. "Seriously," said Karma, not wanting to offend the girl's feelings, "I bet you have things to do. Study or whatever."

"But I _want_ to spend time with you!" exclaimed Manami, unable to hold her feelings in anymore. Her face turned scarlet. "I-I d-didn't m-m-mean it in a w-w-weird w-way!" stuttered the girl, covering her face with her hands, "I j-just meant a-as f-friends. Sorry!" She bowed, looking at the ground, not willing to look into the boy's eyes. It was just too embarrassing. Suddenly, Karma let out a fit of laughter.

"Your face was _priceless_!" he exclaimed, chuckling, "That shade of red! It almost matches my _hair_!" This only caused the girl's face to turn even redder (if possible), sending Karma into a new fit of laughter. "Do you wanna go to the book store then?" asked Karma after calming down, "You probably have things you need there, right?"

"E-ehhh?" asked Manami, shocked, "B-but you don't really want to go there…do you?" She looked up at the red head queerly. He only smiled back.

"It's fine," he replied, putting his hands into his pockets, "Maybe I'll find my third knife there." A sadistic grin spread onto his face as the two started walking.

"You're so amazing Karma-kun," said Manami in awe, "How do you manage to ace _all_ the subjects?" Karma chuckled, taking out a pen and spinning it. Since it'd look rather shady to spin a pocket knife, his pen was his best substitute.

" _Almost_ ace," stated Karma matter-of-factly, "And I'm not amazing. If you know how to tackle basic problems, you can just elaborate…just like in _assassinations_."

"I can't do that," sighed Manami, "I'm hopeless in liberal arts. Chemistry is my one and only 'knife'. Koro-sensei told me to use language arts as my second 'knife', but I'm still rather bad at it."

"Have some confidence," replied Karma, performing a 1-2 charge with his black RSVP pen, "People need to train to earn a knife." Manami sighed, melancholy as the two walked into the book store.

A cool and refreshing blast of dry air blew into their faces, relieving them from the summer heat outside. Shelves of plastic covered books, CDs, audiobooks, and stationary loomed over Manami. Manga was all the way in the back of the store and a middle-aged woman stood kindly at the cashier.

"Welcome," she said, "are you two looking for anything specific?" Manami shook her head politely and followed Karma awkwardly. Besides them, an old man was limping toward the manga section, muttering something about the newest chapter of Hibi Chouchou.

"I need a book on grammar," sighed Manami, "Or else I'm gonna flunk the liberal arts exam… _again_."

"Hey, a 43 wasn't _that_ bad," replied Karma, flipping through a manga that he found on the ground, "It could've been worse."

"I just don't get it," mumbled Manami hopelessly, "There goes my 'second knife'…" The two looked around quietly for another half an hour before they, meaning Manami, officially gave up on finding a liberal art book she could actually understand.

"If you want, I'll let you borrow my notebook," offered Karma, handing his notes to her. His writing wasn't the neatest, but it was readable. The handwriting was sharp and straight…exact in a way. Manami could've sworn he and his writing were twins.

"Really?" she asked gratefully, "Thank you so much! Oh! I should get you something in return…" She walked over toward the stationary.

"Thanks, but no thanks," declined Karma, "It's just some writing I'm letting you read…" Manami turned around and pouted to him. He took it as a, "No, I'm getting you something right now whether you like it or not," pout.

The girl quickly walked over to the cashier, hiding the object from Karma in her sleeves until they got out. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed, handing him a pen, "I know it's not much, but it seems like you like pen spinning."

Karma accepted the red gel pen. It was thin, but heavy. The cap had a little black grip and both sides were weighted equally. It made the pen easier to spin. He twirled it for a few seconds before placing it gently into his bag. "Thanks Okuda," he replied, genuine, "See you tomorrow." The two left their separate ways after wishing each other good luck for tomorrow. The sun was just about to set and a beautiful pink-orangish color filled the sky. Fluffy clouds were floating around and birds were flying peacefully back to their nests.

X

Karma lied in his bed that night, spinning his new favorite pen Manami bought him recently. Reference books covered his table and he realized that he had been studying for the past three hours.

"Better go tell Nagisa that I finished some sort of video game…maybe Left4Dead."

Meanwhile, Manami had just finished showering and was drying her hair with a blue towel. Looking out a window, she spotted a star filled sky. Suddenly, a shooting star sped by, sparkling like a firework. Gasping, Manami quickly decided to make a wish, just for good luck.

"I wish to do well on my final exams tomorrow," she said dreamily. She then added, "And if it isn't too much to ask, I hope Karma-kun does well too." Clapping twice, she opened her eyes once again to admire the star filled sky.


End file.
